Off-Camera Bounce and Shooting thru a Window
I have a neat little flash stand that is actually made from the floor stand for a small halogen worklight. I added a 1/4-20 bolt and voila, my poverty wizard and Nikon SB-24 flash are really portable, but still stable.
Tonight, I perched it on the kitchen table, hidden behind my wife’s laptop, then went outside and popped off an exposure through the French doors.
I’ll add the pic at a later time, possibly, but suffice to say that it was a very effective bouncing technique. The light filled the room pretty well, and the door added some framing.
Karma wants to use this technique next week at a shoot of her family, and so there’s more experimentation to be done.
Further experimentation convinced me that bouncing off the ceiling from off camera is a very valid portrait technique, as well, and I bet that popping a little hair light from the opposite side would make for some awesome stuff. At least, that’s what I think.
I’ve got to remember to set white balance to “flash” when I do these, as the combination of flash and bounce is adding some color that I don’t like.
In other news, Karma received her new (to her) Canon 30D today and that learning process has begun… I’m amazed at the difference in focus speed. Even the 50mm f/1.8 is QUICK. That’s impressive and worthwhile. The L glass will be lightning.
